As for Liu Zi, she naturally continued to sleep her beauty sleep; there was no room for discussion. It seemed she would have to remind Zheng Dong later. This was Liu Zi's last thought before losing consciousness.
After an unknown amount of time, Liu Zi slowly woke up from her sleep. She stretched, yawned, and sat up.
"Oh, I slept so well," she murmured to herself, then looked around and realized it was getting late.
She decided to wash up first, and then go downstairs for lunch. She had heard yesterday that the Cantonese food at the restaurant downstairs was quite good.
Liu Zi changed into a dress and put on light makeup; it wasn't cold in Guangzhou in October.
Upon exiting the building, they saw Zheng Dong and Li Song already waiting. They nodded to each other, and the three of them went downstairs together.
The Cantonese restaurant attached to the five-star hotel is very nicely decorated, with crystal chandeliers, wooden floors, and curtains in a strong Hong Kong style.
In the 1990s, Hong Kong was one of the economic centers of Asia. Guangzhou was the closest to it and learned a lot from it. For example, the interior design style is exactly what the people of Guangzhou like.
The waiter led them to their seats, and Liu Zi took the menu and began to look through it.
It wasn't that she was being arbitrary; it was just that the two people opposite her were too embarrassed to order. The first few times, they would just order a cheap vegetarian dish as a token gesture, mainly because none of them liked to eat it. So later, Liu Zi simply stopped caring about them and let them eat with their eyes closed.
They had already tried the famous claypot rice, roast goose, and honey-glazed char siu from the original restaurants in Guangzhou, so this time she planned to order some dishes that were more Chaoshan or Dongjiang style.
She told the waiter her requirements and asked her to recommend a few options.
"Sweet and sour pork with pineapple, poached chicken, braised beef brisket with radish, garlic ribs, and chicken stuffed in pork belly are all our signature dishes. We also have some raw marinated meats, which our chef makes exceptionally well, though we don't know if you're used to them." The waiter gave Liu Zi very professional advice.
"You have raw marinated food here?" Liu Zi's voice rose in surprise.
"Yes, our head chef is from Chaoshan, and all the customers who come and go rave about his raw marinated dishes." The waiter was quite proud, saying that some people even come all the way here specifically to try them!
Liu Zi understood, quickly ordered a few of the famous Chaozhou dishes she was familiar with, and then followed the waiter to order raw marinated food.
Drunken crab with roe, pickled oysters, garlic whelks, pickled live shrimp, cold mussel salad, pickled mantis shrimp, pickled salmon...
Just looking at Liu Zi made her mouth water, but she hesitated when she thought about her two children at home.
Perhaps sensing Liu Zi's hesitation, the waiter said that their seafood was frozen at -20 degrees Celsius to kill bacteria, and as long as she didn't eat too much, she wouldn't get an upset stomach.
The waiter also reminded her not to order too much if it was her first time eating there, and to try it out first to see if she could finish it.
As expected of a master chef, the sauce he made was absolutely superb. Liu Zi only tasted the other dishes; she was only after the seafood.
Li Song probably ate as well. He noticed that Liu Zi had eaten quite a lot, so he reminded her to eat less so that she wouldn't end up with an upset stomach.
Realizing this was her first time eating seafood since her rebirth, Liu Zi looked regretfully at the remaining seafood and had no choice but to stop.
Zheng Dong probably didn't have the stomach for it; he was somewhat averse to eating raw food and gave up after only two bites.
When it was time to pay the bill, Zheng Dong secretly asked Liu Zi if she wanted to pack some leftovers.
Liu Zi looked at the remaining dishes on the table and nodded in agreement.
"Wasting food is shameful" is a phrase her father always says. Liu Zi didn't think there was anything wrong with it. She simply waved to the waiter to come and pay the bill, and even asked her for a few more takeout containers to pack up.
After eating the raw marinated food, Liu Zi had to take another shower because of the lingering smell.
Zheng Dong had arranged to meet the other party at 3:30, and Liu Zi went downstairs to wait for them at 3:00, but she didn't expect the other party to arrive even earlier than her.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Pei, I made you come all this way for nothing this morning," Liu Zi apologized first.
"It was my fault. I should have called ahead. I apologize for being rude." Pei Shiheng smiled shyly, feeling embarrassed.
The two then frankly exchanged their intentions regarding their respective situations. Liu Zi then learned that Pei Shiheng had a design background and that most of the coats in the store were his designs.
However, he is still in university, so his designs are relatively limited and he cannot supply a full range of clothing.
Liu Zi was curious about the pattern maker behind him, and Pei Shiheng then revealed that he was a master craftsman from his family's factory.
Upon hearing this, Liu Zi immediately decided to cooperate, but the method of cooperation was different from that of other distributors.
“I also like design. How about we start a clothing brand together? You can design the coats you like, and I can design the dresses I love. We can open two stores in Guangzhou and Beijing first, and then split the profits 50/50. Of course, whoever sells the clothes better will get a cut of the profits. All of this is negotiable.”
“But opening a garment factory costs a lot of money, and I don’t have any!” Pei Shiheng’s family is very strict. He just opened a wholesale store and can’t afford to build a factory.
Liu Zi quickly explained that they were not opening a factory, but rather a joint venture company with both of them holding shares. They would hire people to make patterns and produce the clothes they designed, and then open a factory when they had the resources.
Pei Shiheng was also weighing Liu Zi's words. Opening another shop in Guangzhou was no problem, but he had just met Liu Zi. What if she was a swindler?
His older brother kept telling him to be careful when he was out and about and not to trust others too easily.
Seeing Pei Shiheng's undisguised suspicion, Liu Zi thought about what she had just said and realized that it did sound a bit like recruiting people into a pyramid scheme.
She was just too excited to have met a good pattern maker, so Liu Zi quickly took out her business card from her bag and handed it over.
"I am the owner of Beijing Cloud Studio and Qilin Media Company. I am not a swindler!" Liu Zi quickly explained.
Pei Shiheng felt somewhat embarrassed that his thoughts had been seen through, but he still didn't understand why Liu Zi wanted to find him.
Liu Zi explained to him that she liked designing clothes, but her energy was limited. Pei Shiheng had good pattern makers and a family-owned processing factory, which would save her a lot of trouble.
Pei Shiheng did not immediately agree; he said he needed to go back and think about it.
Liu Zi agreed.
Just before leaving, Pei Shiheng stopped and hesitantly asked Liu Zi if she could be a model for his shop and take a set of photos.
Liu Zi shook her head and refused.
Before Pei Shiheng could even feel disappointed, Liu Zi proposed a new solution.
"I'm just a bit tall, and I'm not as pretty as those celebrities when it comes to taking pictures. If our company can be established, how about I invite Rongrong from Zheng Nan Records to be our model?"
"Who are you talking about? Rongrong from Zheng Nan Records in Hong Kong, the one who sang 'My Pride'?" Pei Shiheng's voice drew everyone's attention.
"Calm down!" Liu Zi felt a little embarrassed, not expecting that Pei Shiheng was Rongrong's fan.
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